Strong emotional feelings toward your work can develop over time. As with other relationships in life, that attachment can create anxiety, become boring, or potentially create a love for work under optimal conditions. In order to rise to such an intense positive state, favorable conditions must be cultivated to enable love for work to grow. If you believe this is possible, but love for work hasn’t happened yet for you, there are some important things you can do to increase the odds.

Tom Morris, modern-day philosopher and author of True Success, writes that “One way of doing what you love is simply deciding to start loving what you do.” Such a pivotal decision marks an important first step, followed by many more that will carry you in the direction of your goals. There are additional decision points along the way:

 Discover why your work matters, by thinking about the important outcomes it produces. Make your daily efforts about earning More Than a Pay Check. Think about how your approach sets you apart and what you do differently, then talk about it aspirationally and perform at a level that equals its importance. Align your approach with your purpose.

 Take a hard look at where your time goes each day at work:

o Value Creation. 

What are the aspects of what you do that produce meaningful results, those things that you’re actually compensated to perform? These are the activities you most look forward to and which benefit others.

o Incidental Effort. 

There are necessary things we all do to prepare us for our Value Creation time, but which alone do not create any value for you, your company or your customers. How can you perform what’s necessary, but only to the point that it faciliatates Value Creation?

o Waste. 

Time spent doing things that neither prepare you to create value nor result in Value Creation directly are, quite simply, waste. In today’s always-on barrage of distractions, love for work can quickly become lost. Waste will take over like weeds in a garden, so systematically eliminate it with a vengeance.

 To the extent that others tell you “it is what it is…”, finish their sentence by adding “…but it will be what we make it.” Don’t accept the status quo if you’re not feeling the love.

 Focus on what you can do to increase time spent on activities that energize you and reduce or eliminate those that don’t lead to love for work. As further explained by Tom Morris realize that “By taking the actions that ought to be taken we can very often bring about the emotions and attitudes we need to have.”

 Invest your best efforts in uninterrupted blocks of time that give you energy and generate feelings of accomplishment.

 Don’t get hung up on how hard it is, how long it will take, or let naysayers distract you from making progress. Use each day to get just a little better than yesterday. Maximize the Moment

 Realize that Love for Work is an outcome and not a goal.

Enjoy the Journey!